Can you Beet this?

So easy. So good. Two recipes for the price of one if you buy beets with the tops on.

In fact, if you buy beets with the tops on, you have actually purchased three vegetables. We'll bake the beet root, which is good for slicing/cubing for another day. We'll strip the leafy parts off the stems and cook like kale or other greens. And the stems, or ribs, get chopped like celery and cooked pretty much like it, too.

The only real issue is keeping the beet juice from staining anything that you don't want stained. Glass, glazed porcelain and stainless steel are good bets. Your best dish towels, not so much. Your clothing -- well, wear the same kind of thing you would paint a bookshelf in, and you'll be fine. Or wear a good apron. I have gotten away with wooden cutting boards when I washed them IMMEDIATELY before the beet juice had a chance to make itself at home. Just be warned.

Speaking of which, if you don't habitually eat beets, you may be surprised on your next trip(s) to the bathroom. Do not panic. Do not call 911. It's the beets.

1) Beet green salad with Italian sausage (or you could use bacon -- I happened to have one link of Italian sausage left in the fridge).

I used:
leaves and ribs from 6 beets. Well, I saved half of the ribs for later.
2 eggs (saved about half of one for later)
1 link of Italian sausage (or you could use maybe 3-4 strips of bacon)
about half a cup of chopped onion leftover from a previous chopping venture; you could use shallots, leeks, whatever
salt, pepper, a little dill seed -- whatever you like
vinegar: I used about 1 T of balsamic and at the end, a little splash of pear-infused white vinegar
a smattering of squash seeds that I still had kicking around
1 clementine (yep, still have some)

You could also add just about any other veggie: mushroom; bell pepper; carrot. You could even put in snow peas or fresh young green beans. But it is easy to overdo and end up with too much!

If you want hard-boiled egg(s) in your salad, it's a good idea to do them first or at least start them first. Put the eggs in the water and bring to a boil. When they are boiling, turn the heat off and cover. Wait a few minutes; they will keep cooking but won't get overcooked. Then peel when you get a chance, usually when other things are cooking. You will probably want to drain out the still hot water and run them under cold water.

You will want a big pot for this so that the beet tops will fit in later. I used my cast-iron Dutch oven. A stock pot would also work. If you don't have a big pot, you might have to work in batches.

Heat the pan and add about 2 Tablespoons of olive oil.

Squeeze the sausage out of the casing into the pan. Add the chopped onion. Let them cook on medium until the sausage is brown. Meanwhile:



If the beets are muddy, rinse them off. Cut the tops off the beets, leaving about 1/4 to 1/2 inch to keep the beets from bleeding too much. We'll deal with cooking the root parts later.

Cut the green leafy part from the "stem" part, put in a colander or sieve and rinse well. Tear up into pieces to make them easier to eat later, maybe about half the size of your hand. They will wilt down when cooked, though, so they don't have to be teensy.

Chop the stems like celery, in pieces about 1/2 to 3/4 inch long. Add them to the sausage and onion.

If you are adding other veggies, this would be when.
Add salt, pepper, any other seasoning.
If the sausage isn't producing much fat, you might need to add a little more oil, especially if you are cooking a lot more veggies.

While that cooks, you should have just enough time to peel and slice the eggs and take apart the clementine.

When the beet ribs, etc., are hot and tender (taste one!) without being soggy, throw in the leafy parts and toss to make sure they get some of the fat/butter/oil. Add some vinegar. The greens take only a minute or two -- just check to see how they are doing. You don't want them soggy, just wilted a little. I often turn the heat off, stick a lid on and let the pan's heat take care of the greens, but then, I use cast iron, and it holds heat really well. Taste one of the beet greens. You might need to add a pinch of sugar or otherwise adjust the seasonings.

Plate up. This is where I added just a dash of the pear-infused vinegar. You could add a salad dressing if you are into that, but the oil and vinegar have actually already turned into a vinaigrette, you know.


Other options:
You can chop an apple. Or throw in some raisins or dried cranberries, or some grapes or orange slices. The sky's the limit! Croutons? Why not? Slivered almonds? Smoke 'em if you've got 'em. Leftover chicken or ham? Yum. Cheese? Double-yum. Gorgonzola? Oh, man.

The point is that the beet greens need to be cooked a little to tenderize them; after that, you're making a salad-bar salad, so anything goes. Anything you like, that is.


2) Beets, themselves. OK, this is soooo hard.
Scrub off any dirt. Cut off any stringy, rooty things. Don't peel the beets. If you are fussy, you can do that after they are cooked. Me, I don't bother.

Put the beets in a Pyrex or glazed porcelain baking/casserole dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover tightly. If the dish doesn't have its own cover, make one with aluminum foil and pinch it down around the dish so it is pretty well sealed. Bake (you don't have to preheat, but it doesn't hurt) at 350 until a fork goes in easily. (You can poke the fork right through the foil.) This will depend partly on how many beets you are cooking but mostly on how big they are. The more you poke, the more beet juice will run out, so I wouldn't even start jabbing until 45 minutes unless I had baby beets (smaller than a ping-pong ball).

When they are done, you can just let 'em cool and refrigerate, if you like beets plain, which I do. Or, you can slice or cube them, move them to another dish that has a lid (not plastic unless you don't mind the staining and definitely not the dish that is hot from being in the oven, unless you know it won't crack from the temperature difference), add a splash of vinegar (I like raspberry vinegar for this) and a scant sprinkle of sugar if you wish. Toss or stir or shake. Eat. Or put in the fridge.

These are a great, colorful addition to a salad, but it is best to add them at the last minute so the color doesn't spread too much.

Or you could make borscht. (Maybe tomorrow.)